This is the follow up video I said I’d record for the blog I did last week:

What’s in this video:

Why being ‘grown up’ is overrated

Why you have to hold on to your childish hobbies to get your dream job/life

Why the internet has changed everything and made any job possible

Join us on YouTube:

There’ll be more vlogs coming in the near future to the SnomieTV youtube channel along with other snowboard content later on, so feel free to check it out and subscribe if you want to see the videos before they hit the blog:

Why this contest seems awesome:

The contest gives you a free lifetime pass to a huge number of ski resorts. Who doesn’t want a lifetime ski pass?

Why this contest really isn’t that awesome:

Think about the huge travel fees involved with this contest. Flight, accommodation and food to travel to every single resort under the Vail Resorts epic pass will probably cost you somewhere around $10k.

Not to mention you have to have the freedom to basically travel nonstop for 1-2 months while you ride every resort. How many people have both the time and money to do something like this?

Don’t forget that for the price you’d be paying to do this contest, you can pay for another 10~ years of season passes for yourself and if you don’t win you’re still down $10k.

What this contest really is:

It’s a good marketing ploy for Vail. It got a lot of traffic, gossip, news spread about Vail Resorts and their Epic Pass (heck – it made it to every snowboard site and I’m blogging about it right now).

Beyond that, the people who will actually win this contest are unlikely to be the people who actually need a pass. It’ll likely be people with a lot of disposable income who do this for fun.

If you want to enter the contest, go for it, but think of it as an adventure that will probably be lots of fun, but don’t think of it as a way to save on your season pass costs because you’ll be spending a ton of money and time for a very slim chance of winning a lifetime pass.

I’m trying something new at Snomie where I’ll be doing some blogs with both video and text, so if you want to watch a quick video to get your Snomie blog fix, you can, but if you want to read it at work or a quiet place, there’ll be the text summary underneath as well.

What is the Snowboarding Carabiner?

A carabiner is one of those things that you may have seen people use for rockclimbing or other outdoor activities to hold their ropes/tools, except in this case they’ve attached a bunch of snowboard tools to the carabiner:

Why is this awesome? I already have a snowboard tool

The issue I found with most snowboard tools is they’re typically awkward to carry. They’re either bulky, heavy or weirdly shaped so unless you have a bag with you, it makes it kind of annoying to carry a tool around while you snowboard.

Sure there are some small-mini tools, but this design just seems so clever and compact at the same time.

By making this in the shape of a carabiner, it’s super light weight, easy to stash/clip to something and you can use it as a carabiner to clip/carry things at the same time.

Why do I need a snowboard tool on the mountain?

The big issue me and many other park riders run into is our bindings get loose during the day. This is especially common if you hit a lot of jumps and it becomes a pretty regular, bi-weekly occurrence to land and realise your bindings have changed to some crazy angle from the impact.

I’ve literally lost count of the number of times I’ve landed a jump, rode away, then realized my feet were pointing inwards because my bindings shifted from the landing impact.

Having this tool with me would mean I don’t have to find a snowboard tool on the mountain (or ride over to one of the free toolshed locations) and can just re-adjust my bindings on the spot and keep riding.

Hasn’t this been done before?

I know signal snowboards made a similar tool to this carabiner, but I found their version had random pointy bits that I wasn’t too keen on having near me when I fell.

This carabiner doesn’t have those same pointy bits so I’m not worried about falling on it and it also looks to be built a lot more sturdy than the signal version.

Okay, you’ve convinced me… how do I get one?

Go here and you can basically fund this project by pre-ordering one of these snowboard carabiners (and you get a discount for being an early supporter of the project).

It’s $14 for US residents or $32 for international supporters (shipping is included – which is why I assume the international version is so much pricier. If you have a US friend who can re-ship these for you, it may be worth it since it’s over double the cost for those not in the US).

– Jed

ps – I’m by no means paid to support this, I’m just a fan of this project (and I’m buying one of these tools for myself as well).

Yep, it’s not quite snowboard related, but you guys know I’m big on getting people to stop living mediocre lives that suck, so here’s a vlog that I think people need to hear.

I did a blog last week on 4 ways to kick life in the balls and get what you want, this is similar, but I feel video gets the message across better than words on a page:

What’s in this video:

Why you’ll have great excuses to quit your dreams, but shouldn’t

Why impossible things aren’t really impossible

Why failure is good for you

One thing you have to have to get your dream life

Join us on YouTube:

There’ll be more vlogs coming to the SnomieTV youtube channel along with other snowboard content later on, so feel free to check it out and subscribe if you want to see the videos before they hit the blog:

Looks like we were right with the estimated release date for the new GoPro because they just announced the GoPro HD Hero3+ Black Edition:

Basically it looks like the Hero 3+ Black edition is a lighter, smaller re-do of last year’s Hero3, with some upgraded software and features.

Here’s a breakdown of Hero 3+ upgrades/new features:

20% Lighter & Smaller (although it’s actually due to having a tighter fitting case while the actual unit looks to be the same size):

SuperView mode (give you 16:9 aspect ratio instead of 4:3):

New low light mode:

30% more battery life (this is very nice!):

33% sharper images with less distortion (at least that’s what they say):

4 times faster wi-fi preview/sharing:

Improved audio:

Besides this they also added more mounts:

And the GoPro 3+ silver edition is now able to record 1080p resolution at 60 fps and 720p at 120 fps just like it’s older brother.

How much will it cost?

It’ll cost $399 US for the GoPro HD Hero3+ Black edition and $299 for the silver edition. The previous generation Hero3 is now selling for $329 (black edition) and $249 (silver edition).

When is it available?

It’s available right now from the GoPro website. Just be aware that this is literally a brand new announcement, so in some countries it may show the new GoPro 3+ as not in stock yet and I assume that will be updated shortly.

This is very much like Apple, in that they are updating the internals while keeping the outside the same (although they managed to make the waterproof case smaller and as a result make the 3+ smaller/lighter).

Overall it’s a nice bump in features and upgrades and the longer battery life is much needed. I just hope the software isn’t buggy like last year when they released the Hero 3 Black and it had all sorts of issues with freezing and frame rate dropping for no reason.